Georgia Tech women’s basketball picked seventh in preseason ACC poll

Release from Georgia Tech Athletics:

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Sophomore guard Kaela Davis of the Georgia Tech women’s basketball team was  selected to the Preseason All-ACC Team by both the Blue Ribbon Panel and the head coaches in the ACC.

The Preseason All-ACC Team and the preseason polls were announced at the 2014 ACC women’s basketball media day on Wednesday. The Yellow Jackets were picked in both the Blue Ribbon Panel preseason poll and the head coach’s preseason poll to finish seventh in the league.

“I really like my team,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “I really think we have tremendous potential. I think there are some question marks. It’s one of those things where a lot of the teams in the ACC have five or six strong returners and then a lot of freshmen. We are one of those teams.”

Davis, along with Joseph and senior guard Sydney Wallace, attended media day.

“One of the things I thought Kaela did a tremendous job of last year was taking a team and a program that was stumbling a little bit, coming off of a year that we didn’t make the NCAA tournament and still instilling a lot of confidence in her teammates, even as a freshman,” Joseph said. “The fact that she led all freshmen in scoring and rebounding says a lot about the year she had.”

Georgia Tech returns five of their top six top-scorers from last season and 62 percent of scoring from 2013-14. Davis and Wallace are two of the top returning scorers. Davis averaged 18.6 points per game and led the team with 85 3-pointers made. Wallace averaged 9.8 points per game and made 49 3-pointers.

“I feel like our team has great chemistry,” Wallace said. “We have three juniors that understand their roles and the things that we have to do.  I feel like they are with me as well as the only senior.”

Davis was a member of the 2014 All-ACC Second team and the 2014 All-ACC Freshman Team. Davis set the single season scoring record for a freshman in Georgia Tech history with 594 points last season, which ranks third on GT’s all-time list for points in a single season. Her 594 points also set the ACC freshman scoring record. Davis led all ACC rookies last season with 18.6 points per game and was honored as the ACC Rookie of the Week four times.

“I think last year I learned decision making with the pace of the game and how quickly decisions have to be made” Davis said. “I learned the process of the ACC and how to be successful in the ACC.  I don’t even think I did that that well so I think that there is a lot I can take away from last year to apply to this year.”

Wallace is just 169 points shy of becoming the 27^th Yellow Jacket to score 1,000 career points. The Johns Creek, Ga. native ranks sixth all-time at Georgia Tech with 142 and made at least three 3-pointers in 10 games a junior and six games as a freshman.

“Sydney has been a starter in our program basically for four years,” Joseph said. ”She knows the lay of the land. She understands the expectations. She knows what we have to do, defensively and offensively. She has been given a lot of elbow room to create and do things offensively throughout her entire career.”